Ratchet gear assembly for wrenches



July 3, 1951 R. o. WRIGHT RATCHET GEAR ASSEMBLY FOR WRENCHES Filed June20, 1947 INVENTOR- Par Q MP/aHr ATI'D RN EYB Patented July 3, 1 951UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RATCHET GEAR ASSEMBLY FOR WRENCHES Roy 0.Wright, Huntington, W. Va. Application June 20, 1947, Serial No. 755,979

This invention relates to improvements in wrenches, and moreparticularly to improvements in the wrench shown and described in Patent2,181,678.

The improvements to be later described alter in no way the principalobject of the invention covered by the above patent which includes theengaging of a pair of threaded elements whereby to secure one of saidelements stationary, while the other of said elements is actuated foradjustment, attachment or detachment, relative to the first element.

This invention, however, does provide improvements in the generalphysical character of the wrench effecting means whereby more simpleconstruction, durable usage, effective operation and more economicalmanufacture is obtained.

Other objects and advantages, however, will be apparent from thefollowing description, when taken in conjunction with the the annexeddrawing in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of theinvention;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof partly broken away to showthe internal moving parts thereof;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view thereof partly broken away andpartly in section and Figure 4 is a sectional view of the floatingsocket.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, the reference numeral Idesignates a barrel or elongated tubular casing formed with alongitudinally extending bore I I which communicates at one end withhexagonal shaped bearing socket I2 and at the other end with theenlarged circular socket I3 on the end of which the enlarged hexagonalshaped socket I4 is provided. The

interior of the socket I2 has an inside square shaped socket I2 whichcommunicates with the bore II, While the exterior surface of the socketI3 is shaped for engagement with the jaws of a wrench. Ihe inner face ofthe socket I4 is hexagonal in formation, as shown at I5, to receive anut or head of a bolt or stud or a wrench or similar tool.

A prying lever or shaft I6, of a substantially elongated cylindricalconfiguration is detachably and rotatably secured in the bore II, andthe shaft is provided at one end with a cylindrical shaped head I!seated within the socket I3 and having an inclined face It abutting thesimilarly contoured shoulder I9 of the socket I3, and the head IT isfashioned with a nut receiving socket 20. The opposite end of the shaftI extends an appreciable distance beyond the end of the barrel I0 and isformed with an arcuate cuneiform shaped end 2! whereby the elementspreviously described may be used as a pry, all of which is covered bythe patent previously mentioned The improvements to the already patentedconstruction consist of fashioning the lever or 2 Claims. (Cl. 81-56)shaft I 6 inwardly of the end 2I in a square shaped formation 22 andmounting thereon a sleeve 23 having a longitudinal bore 24 therein toconform to the shape of the formation 22. The forward end of the sleeve23 is fashioned in a square shaped formation 24 to receive a wrench forthe turning thereof as desired, and inwardly of the formation 24, atransverse opening 25 is provided to receive a bar or other means forrotating the sleeve and inwardly of the opening 25 a set screw 26 in thesleeve retains the sleeve in fixed relation to the lever I6.

Mounted on the lever I6 is a gear housing 21, the rear wall 28 of whichabuts the forward end of the socket I2, and surrounding the opening 29in the wall 28, through which the lever I6 extends forwardly thereof isa hub 30. Mounted on the socket I2, within the hub 30, by means of acentral hex shaped bore 3|, is the floating collar 32, havinglongitudinal grooves or ratchet teeth 33 in the outer periphery thereof.The collar 32 is retained in the hub 39 by the ring plate or cover 34secured to the hub 30 by the screws 35. Extending outwardly from the hub30 at right angles thereto, is a cylindrical casing 36 in which ismounted the trigger pawl or ratchet 31 on the stem 33 on which ismounted a spring 39, and a nut 43 threadably connected to thecylindrical casing 36 tensions the ratchet pawl 31 to force the pawlinto the teeth 33 of the collar 32.

Secured to the upper end of the stem 38 of the pawl by a pin 4| is aknob 42 and a pin 43 mounted transversely of the stem 38 below the knob42 is receivable in the transverse slot 44 in the top of the nut 40.

The pawl or ratchet is so shaped, as shown in Figure 3, that the collar32 will rotate in one direction only, but the pawl can be pulledupwardly against the tension of the spring 39 and reversed so that therotation can be made in the opposite direction. The pin 43 acts as aguide to properly position the pawl after it has been rotated, and alsoholds the pawl in fixed relation to the nut and housing 36.

The face of the wall 28 opposite to the hub 30 is provided with a recess45 formed by the outwardly projecting ring formation 46, and the innerend of the sleeve 23 is receivable in this recess and has a socket 4'!to engage the lever I6 at the end of the formation 22.

The portion 48 of the sleeve 23 is square in formation to receive thelarge gear 49, and a circular shoulder 50 on the sleeve abuts the gear49 on one side thereof and key slot 5I in the portion 46, receives a key52 to fix the gear to this portion.

Secured to the housing 21 by screws 53 is a face plate 54 of similarcontour and the wall 28 is provided with an opening 35 in alinement withan opening 56 in the face plate 54 to journ l a stub shaft 51 therein;

3 The shaft 51 has a key slot 58 therein to receive a key 59 whereby apinion 60 is fixed thereon for engagement with the gear 49, thusproviding a ratchet gear assembly.

One end of the shaft 5! is threaded as at El to receive the lock washer62 and lock nut 63,

which is fixed thereto in the conventionalmanner by having a cotter keypassing through the opening 64 in the nut 63, and the opening 65 in thethreaded end 6|, when said openings are in alinement with each other.The opposite end of the shaft 51 is provided with a circular portion 6%on which is formed centrally thereof, the square shaped head 61 which isso designed as to receive a wrench or the like to rotate the pinion 6'8and an opening 68, transversely of the portion 66, will receive a bar orother means for the rolever It can be moved longitudinally to permitengagement of the socket with a nut, the sockets are rotated by theapplication of a wrench to the ends 24 or 61, and one or two nuts can beloosed or tightened at the same time by engagement of the end 24 with anut. The lever I6 may be held stationar while the barrel Ill is rotatedto effect reverse adjustment between two nuts. The interior socket I2 ofthe socket l2 permits pulling the gear assembly forward to free thebarrel 50 from one nut. Thus the square end 22 of the pry l6 will be incontact with the socket l2, so that the inner wrench can be rotated withthe ratchet. The socket I2 can also be used advantageously when thedevice is used separately from the gear assembly. Thus nuts of varioussizes may be adjusted simultaneously in reverse or similar direction toeach other. The sockets may be made to conform to other shapes thanthose described, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

there has been provided a simple and efficient wrench, so constructedand arranged as to permit relative adjustment of a pair of nuts withoutthe use of additional means for securing one of said nuts stationaryrelative to the other during a desired adjustment.

It is also to be distinctly understood that various changes andmodifications in the construction and arrangement of the various partsmay be resorted to, provided they fall within the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a dual socket wrench, the combination which comprises a gearhousing having a hub extended from one side thereof, an elongatedtubular casing having a collar with radially disposed teeth in the outersurface on one end and having a nut receiving socket in the oppositeend, said elongated tubular casing extended from the gear housing andpositioned with the collar thereof journaled in the hub extended fromthe side of the housing, a cylindrical casing extended radially from oneside of the hub, aratchet in From the foregoing, it will be apparentthat v 4 the said cylindrical casing positioned to coact with the teethof the collar of the elongated tubular casing and having a stem with anut on the outer end slidably mounted in the said cylindrical casing, aspring on said stem for urging the ratchet into engagement with theteeth of the collar, said ratchet mounted to be rotated b the nut on theouter end of the stem through an'angle of'180 degrees to reverse thedirection of rotation the tubular casing may rotate in the hub, a pryingshaft journaled in the said elongated tubular casing and extendedthrough and beyond the gear housing, said prying shaft having a nutreceiving socket in the end thereof positioned in the end of the tubularcasing'in which the said nut receiving socket thereof is positioned,said nut receiving sockets of the casing and prying shaft being alignedwith the axis of the shaft and tubular casing, a sleeve mounted on theportion of the shaft extended beyond the said gear housing, a gearpositioned in the gear housing and mounted on the said sleeve, saidsleeve having wrench gripping surfaces thereon and openings therein, astub shaft journaled in the gear housing and also having wrench grippingsurfaces on an extended end thereof and openings therein, said stubshaft positioned parallel to and spaced from the said prying shaft, anda pinion positioned in the gear housing meshing with the gear on thesleeve on the prying shaft and mounted on the said stub shaft.

2. A ratchet gear assembly for a wrench of the type having a barrel anda shaft rotatable in the barrel, the barrel and shaft being provided attheir forward ends with actually aligned sockets of different sizes andrelatively spaced axially of the wrench, and the shaft being extendedrearwardly beyond the barrel, the ratchet gear assembly comprising ahousing, a bearing on the forward side of the housing, a sleevejournaled in the housing in axial alignment with the bearing andextending rearwardly from the housing, a collar nonrotatably mounted onthe rearward end of the barrel and rotatably mounted in the bearing, thecollar being provided in its outer side with ratchet teeth, the rear endof the shaft being located in the sleeve, means connecting the shaftandsleeve to adapt the former to impart rotation to the collar, a springloaded pawl carried by the bearing and operating with the ratchetteethto hold the collar against movement in one direction, a gear within thehousing fixed to the sleeve, a shaft rotatable and extending rearwardlybeyond the housing, a pinion fixed to the shaft meshing with the gear,the outer end of the sleeve and said second shaft being constructed toadapt one or the other to be turned by a tool. ROY WRIGHT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 474,823 Forbes May 17, 18922,181,678 Wright Nov. 28, 1939 2,185,058 Graham Dec; 26, 1939 2,243,948Eyrick June 3, 1941 2,275,633 Keiser Mar. 10, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 635,153 France Mar. 9, 1928

